Prospective Student Information

Dear Prospective Graduate Student,

Welcome! Thank you for your interest in graduate studies in musicology at UNC Chapel Hill. We take pride in offering an outstanding program with internationally-renowned faculty members whose areas of expertise represent a broad spectrum of the field. UNC consistently ranks high among graduate schools nationwide, and recent job placements of students receiving a PhD in musicology from UNC include UCLA, Michigan State University, Brandeis, Belmont University, and Haverford College.

The Music Department offers two graduate degrees, the Master of Arts (M.A.) and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Musicology. Most students entering our graduate programs intend to pursue both the M.A and Ph.D., and our financial-aid packages assume this intention. Students already holding an M.A. in musicology may apply directly to the Ph.D. program. Please note that direct admission to the Ph.D. program requires the equivalent of our M.A. in musicology, and is granted on a provisional basis, pending successful completion of our doctoral qualifying examination. For more information about our department’s programs and their requirements, please see the Music Department's Graduate Handbook and the Graduate School’s Graduate Record.

Detailed instructions on how to apply to our graduate programs are available at the link How To Apply. You will be asked to submit various materials to both the Graduate School and the Music Department. The guidelines at How To Apply will explain all steps in the application process.

The Graduate School has established December 15 as the deadline for all application materials. Applications that are not complete by this date cannot be considered for university fellowships funding. For this reason, you should submit your application, recommendations, test scores, diagnostic examination, transcripts, and all supporting materials to UNC by the deadline. This also means that you should take the GRE General Examination in plenty of time to have your scores reported by then.

The Music Department does not require the GRE Music Examination, but it does administer its own diagnostic test, which you must take to be considered for admission. You will need to arrange for a faculty member or testing center to proctor your examination. Please email your proctor’s name and email address as soon as possible to the Director of Graduate Admissions at gradadmissionsmusic@unc.edu. We will begin sending diagnostic exams to proctors on September 15, and exams will be available from September 15 through December 15. In addition, we require you to submit with your application a statement of purpose and samples of recent written work on a musical subject (e.g., a term paper or thesis). Please submit these materials directly to the Director of Graduate Admissions in the Music Department at gradadmissionsmusic@unc.edu. All materials are due on December 15. We begin considering candidates for admission immediately following the application deadline and will notify successful candidates by mid March.

In addition to exploring our websites, we warmly encourage you to visit our campus and learn about our program first-hand. The best time to do this is either in the fall, as you are completing your application, or in March or April, after you’ve received your acceptance letters and are weighing your decisions. We ask you to please avoid coming to visit in January or February, when we hold graduate qualifying examinations, as this is a particularly strenuous period for us. Visiting prospective students can meet with faculty, talk with current graduate students, tour our facilities (including our brand new Kenan Music Building!), and in many instances attend a graduate seminar. Visiting campus is the best way to see what our graduate program has to offer.

Our faculty and graduate students would also be happy to visit with you during our reception at the meeting of the American Musicological Society in Philadelphia, November 2009. Details will be posted as the conference approaches.

Should you have any questions about our program or the application process, please feel free to write gradadmissionsmusic@unc.edu or call (919/962-1039). We’ll look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,
Prof. Anne MacNeil
Director of Graduate Admissions, 2009-2010

________________________________________

Departmental Contact Information:

Director of Graduate Admissions
Department of Music
Hill Hall
Campus Box 3320
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3320
phone: 919-962-1039
fax: 919-962-3376